Aquila, Inc. was an

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describ ...

and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon ...

distribution network headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. The company also owned and operated

power generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission, distribution, etc.) to end users or its sto ...

assets. It previously operated under the name UtiliCorp United, Inc. The company at one time ranked #33 on the Fortune 500 list. On February 6, 2007, the company announced plans for a merger valued at $1.7 billion to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Great Plains Energy. In conjunction with the merger

Black Hills Corporation Black Hills Corporation is a Rapid City, South Dakota diversified energy company that is an electric and gas utility in South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa. The company sells power throughout the America ...

is to acquire its

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

electric utility and the Colorado,

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to ...

, and

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the so ...

gas utilities for $940 million. The merger closed on July 14, 2008, and Aquila now operates under the name Black Hills Energy.

History

Solomon Valley Milling Company

Aquila has its roots in the Solomon Valley Milling Company founded in 1902 by Lemuel K. Green in Osborne, Kansas. The steam mill used to process

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many c ...

and Green discovered he could sell electricity. In 1908 sold the mill and bought the H. M. Spalding Electric Light Plant in

Concordia, Kansas Concordia is a city in and the county seat of Cloud County, Kansas, United States. It is located along the Republican River in the Smoky Hills region of the Great Plains in North Central Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the ci ...

. Prior to Green's purchase the plant generated power only dawn to midnight and was closed on Sundays. Green bought power from another flour mill and began selling power to neighboring towns.

Green Power & Light Company

In 1916 he sold the plant to the A.E. Fitkin & Company in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

for $550,000. He then bought the Reeder Light, Ice & Fuel Company in

Pleasant Hill, Missouri Pleasant Hill is a city in Cass and Jackson counties, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,113 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. Pleasant Hill is home for the National Weather Service Kansas City/Pleas ...

and renamed the company Green Power & Light Company. He then built Baldwin Lake which was used for hydroelectric power as well as provide water for the community.

West Missouri Power Company

In 1922 looking to expand with a generating plant at

Clinton, Missouri Clinton is a city in Henry County, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,792 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Henry County. History Clinton was laid out in 1836. The city was named for New York Governor DeWitt Clinton, ...

he took the company public under the name West Missouri Power Company. Its chief rival in the

Kansas City metropolitan area The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

was

Kansas City Power & Light Kansas City Power and Light Company was an electric utility company serving the Kansas City metropolitan area. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Great Plains Energy of which it was the biggest component. The company traces its roots to Nove ...

. The company continued to expand through southwest Missouri.

Missouri Public Service Company

In 1926 he sold it to the Fitkin Group again which merged with the Missouri Public Service Company. Green retired to

Escondido, California Escondido is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Located in the North County region, it was incorporated in 1888, and is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. It has a population of 151,038 as of the 2020 census. Et ...

where bought a orange grove. He died in 1930. The

Public Utilities Act of 1935 The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA), also known as the Wheeler-Rayburn Act, was a US federal law giving the Securities and Exchange Commission authority to regulate, license, and break up electric utility holding companies. It ...

broke up utilities. Green's son Ralph Green bought controlling interest in Missouri Public Service. Green was to bring in Middle West Corporation, Missouri Gas & Electric Service Company and City Light and Traction Company of Sedalia, Missouri.

UtiliCorp United Inc.

Ralph Green died in 1962 and his son Richard Green took the helm. Richard Green, Jr. took over in 1982. The latest Green looked to expand it beyond its Missouri base and it was renamed UtiliCorp United Inc. in 1985. It bought People's Natural Gas, Northern Minnesota Utilities, West Virginia Power, West Kootenay Power and Light in British Columbia, and Michigan Gas Utilities. In 1989 it assigned its unregulated gas operations to a newly created subsidiary, Aquila Energy Corp. The acquisitions were done by issuing stock and reducing Green family control. In 1991,

Centel Centel Corporation was an American telecommunications company, with primary interests in providing basic telephone service, cellular phone service and cable television service. Early history In 1900, Max McGraw took his savings from his newsp ...

sold its electric utility holdings in Kansas and Colorado to UtiliCorp for $345 million which operated under the name WestPlains Energy. Before then, Centel in Colorado was known as Southern Colorado Power Company which was later changed to Centel Electric-Southern Colorado Power Division. Centel in Kansas was previously Western Power and Gas which was changed to Centel Electric-Western Power Division. In 1992 the company entered into a joint venture to distribute and market natural gas in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. From 1995 to 2000 it bought interest in utilities in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

and Australia. In some markets Utilicorp placed electric and phone bills on the same bill. West Virginia Power was sold to

Allegheny Energy Allegheny Energy was an electric utility headquartered in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. It owned and operated electric generation facilities and delivered electric services to customers in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia. Allegh ...

in 1999, becoming part of its Monongahela Power subsidiary.

Aquila, Inc.

In 2001 UtiliCorp spun off Aquila but then bought it back in 2002 and then renamed the entire corporation Aquila, Inc. Aquila's stock price peaked at $37.55 in May 2001 and it ranked #33 on the Fortune 500. The stock plummeted to $6.75 in July 2002 in the wake of the

Enron scandal The Enron scandal was an accounting scandal involving Enron Corporation, an American energy company based in Houston, Texas. Upon being publicized in October 2001, the company declared bankruptcy and its accounting firm, Arthur Andersen then ...

which had called into question business practices of all electric utilities. In 2004 five lawsuits were filed in federal court alleging that Aquila's board of directors steered employees into heavily investing their retirement savings in company stock. On Jan. 26, 2005, these suits were folded into a single class action alleging top company officials violated the federal

Employee Retirement Income Security Act The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) (, codified in part at ) is a U.S. federal tax and labor law that establishes minimum standards for pension plans in private industry. It contains rules on the federal income tax ...

requiring that employers manage employees retirement programs responsibly. The company settled the case for $10.5 million in April 2007. 66,000 of the company's customers in Missouri lost power for several days in the Mid-December 2007 North American Winter storms. The company began selling its assets and dropped to 891 on the Fortune list in 2007. In 2007 its electric assets in northwest Missouri were acquired by its historic rival Kansas City Power & Light (via its new parent Great Plains Energy) for $1.7 billion. Its gas properties, as well as its electric service area in southeastern Colorado (including

Pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

), were acquired by

. In 2006, Aquila Networks sold the Kansas electric properties to Mid-Kansas Electric Company (a cooperative). The Mid-Kansas Electric Company consists of six electric cooperatives: Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Dighton, Kansas, Dighton), Prairie Land Electric Cooperative, Inc. ( Norton), Pioneer Electric Cooperative, Inc. ( Ulysses) (the old Aquila territory for Pioneer is operating as Southern Pioneer Electric Company), Victory Electric Cooperative Association, Inc. (

Dodge City Dodge City is the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, United States, named after nearby Fort Dodge. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 27,788. The city is famous in American culture for its history as a wild frontier ...

), Western Cooperative Electric Association (

WaKeeney WaKeeney is a city in and the county seat of Trego County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,799. History James Keeney, a land speculator in Chicago, purchased land at the site of modern-day WaKeene ...

) and Wheatland Electric Cooperative, Inc. ( Scott City) The Kansas gas operations were sold to

Empire District Electric Company The Empire District Electric Company (railcar reporting mark: EDEX) is an investor-owned utility providing electric, natural gas (through its wholly owned subsidiary The Empire District Gas Company), and water service with approximately 215,000 c ...

. In 2008, the Colorado electric properties were acquired by Black Hills Corporation and was renamed Black Hills Energy. Mid-Kansas Electric Company Communities formerly served by Aquila Networks: Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative: Ness City Prairie Land Electric Cooperative: Phillipsburg, Smith Center Southern Pioneer Electric Company Coldwater, Liberal, Medicine Lodge Victory Electric Cooperative Association: Dodge City Western Cooperative Electric: Ellsworth, Lincoln Wheatland Electric Cooperative: Great Bend, Harper

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official page
* ttps://archive.today/20130104113521/http://stocks.us.reuters.com/stocks/fullDescription.asp?rpc=66&symbol=ILA Reuters Profile Natural gas companies of the United States Electric power companies of the United States Companies based in Kansas City, Missouri Hydroelectric power companies of the United States Evergy Energy companies established in 1902 American companies established in 1902 1902 establishments in Missouri 2007 mergers and acquisitions